We still have not planted any overwintering broad beans, but will do so next week.
Most of the parsnip foliage has fallen over onto the ground, but is still green and fresh. No doubt the roots have swelled quite a bit in the last few weeks of relatively good weather.
We harvested all of the carrots from this bed and will remove the leeks, and in a few weeks we will plant some overwintering broad beans in the empty spaces.
The carrots are delicious!
The parsnip foliage from above - still growing strong.
We continue to munch away at the carrots - not sure if any will make it into storage - but the parsnip and leeks will not be harvested for another few months. There is empty space at the south end of the bed (bottom of photo) that we should plant something in, perhaps bread beans.
By carefully pulling away the soil around the base of the parsnip, we can see that the root has swolen to a reasonable size and will continue to grow until the cold of winter sets in. We will wait to harvest any until after a few frosts, as this will make the roots sweeter!
We will probably remove the leeks soon, as they will never reach a reasonable size, and replace them with overwintering broad beans. the other option is to sow broad bean seeds in between or beside the leeks, but we would have to be careful not to damage the seedlings when the leeks are finally removed.
The main crop carrots, parsnip and recently transplanted leeks are all that remain in this bed (apart from a few poppy plants and a lettuce plant that got away).
The carrots are looking (and tasting) good.
The leeks are not going to produce much - not enough fertility added to the late sowing and transplanting.
The parsnip tops are starting to fall over and take up quite a bit of space.
A healthy and delicious bunch of early carrots that have been harvested.
The leeks were then transplanted into the space the carrots (and lettuce) had occupied.
The parsnip tops are continuing to grow quite large, and may need to be thinned a bit more.
The volunteer poppy is in bloom.
Most of this bed has grown well aver the past month of rain, though the lighter feeding plants are doing better than the others.
The tops of the main crop carrots are growing well, and need to be thinned a bit more.
The 11 week old main crop carrot on the left is significantly larger than the 14 week old early carrot on the right! The different weather conditions during sowing seem to have made a lot of difference.
The parsnip plants are growing well.
The lettuce is in need of harvesting. Note the volunteer poppy plant in the middle of the photo.
The leek seedlings are growing very slowly, there is not enough fertility in the ground for them.
The bed has opened up with the spinach and rocked pulled up. The 7 week old main crop carrot seedlings on the left appear to be doing better than the 10 week old early carrots on the right. This might be due to the earlier overshadowing by the spinach and rocket, or it might be due to the dry conditions of the bed when the early carrots were sown.
The two types of lettuce are growing well and in need of thinning (where the slugs have not already done the job). Note the beer trap for slugs in the background.
The early carrots are going to need to be thinned some more.
Many of the lettuce plants have been thinned out by slugs - a job we should have done earlier.
Parsnip seedlings doing well enough to shelter the large garden slug (which was promptly dispatched after the photo was taken).
The Rocket/Arugola has bolted (gone to seed) and we cleared out all of the plants to make room to plant something else. The edible leaves will make a fiery topping to a pasta dish tonight!
The spinach has never well and plants that did grow have all bolted, and were pulled out as well.
Six week old early carrot seedlings.
Two types of lettuce at six weeks old.
6 week old rocket plants almost ready to start harvesting.
Parsnip seedlings just starting to form after 3 weeks.
The two short rows of leeks in the foreground, and 4 long rows sowed with carrots lettuce, parsnip, spinach and rocket. None of the seedlings are visible in this photo. The two darker brown lines to the left are drills of seeds covered with a peat based compost to prevent the soil from capping.
The leeks, early carrots, spinach and rocket (arugula) have all sprouted and in the empty part of the bed we sowed:
This bed was double-dug over the past few weeks and in the fine seedbed we sowed:
